‘Two Thousand Maniacs!’ – 10 Horror Movies That Inspired Band Names

"None of us saw the movie, and we thought the title was '10,000 Maniacs'" -- that's how 10,000 Maniacs bassist Steven Gustafson once explained the difference between his band's name and the title of the 1964 splatter flick that inspired it. 'Two Thousand Maniacs!' directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis and starring 1963 Playboy Playmate Connie Mason, was the second part of what fans have dubbed 'The Blood Trilogy,' a trio of classic horror films also including 1963's 'Blood Feast' and 1965's 'Color Me Blood Red.' 'Two Thousand Maniacs,' which was inspired by the 1947 Lerner and Loewe musical 'Brigadoon,' was remade in 2005 as '2001 Maniacs.'

Even if the number was off, the name turned heads. "Our name really helped separate us from the lot of local bands we were competing with in those days," singer Natalie Merchant once said. Formed in in 1981, 10,000 Maniacs enjoyed a fruitful career as a folk-tinged alt-rock act, peaking in the early '90s, when they topped the alternative charts with the single 'These Are Days' and released an 'MTV Unplugged' album featuring a cover of the Patti Smith Group's 'Because the Night.'